Software-defined computing system remote support

ABSTRACT

Methods, computing systems and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include initializing, by a hypervisor executing on a processor, first and second virtual machines. A first software application configured to provide a service is executed on the first virtual machine, and a logical data connection is established between the first and the second virtual machines. Examples of the logical connection include physical and virtual serial connections, and physical and virtual data networking connections. A second software application configured to enable remote monitoring of the first software application via the logical data connection is executed on the second virtual machine. In some embodiments, the second software application can remotely monitor the first software application via an interface such as a command line interface, a graphical user interface and an application programming interface.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/976,020, filed on Dec. 21, 2015, the contents of which incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to software-defined computing,and specifically to a method for remote identifying and correctingperformance bottlenecks in a software-defined computing system.

BACKGROUND

In software-defined computing (SDC), a computing infrastructure isvirtualized and delivered as a service. For example, in asoftware-defined storage (SDS) system storage hardware is separated fromsoftware that manages the storage infrastructure. In SDS, the softwaremanaging a software-defined storage environment may also provide policymanagement for features such as deduplication, replication, thinprovisioning, snapshots and backup. By definition, SDS software isseparate from the hardware it is managing, and can be implemented viaappliances over a traditional Storage Area Network (SAN), or implementedas part of a scale-out Network-Attached Storage (NAS) solution, or asthe basis of an Object-based storage solution.

The description above is presented as a general overview of related artin this field and should not be construed as an admission that any ofthe information it contains constitutes prior art against the presentpatent application.

SUMMARY

There is provided, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention a method, including initializing in a software-definedcomputing system, by a hypervisor executing on a processor, first andsecond virtual machines; executing, on the first virtual machine, afirst software application configured to provide a service; andexecuting, on the second virtual machine, a second software applicationconfigured to enable remote monitoring of the first software applicationvia a data connection by deploying a virtual remote support connectivityclient in the second virtual machine executing on the hypervisor usingthe first virtual machine as a proxy to enable the remote monitoring ofthe first software application. Additional apparatus and computerprogram product embodiments are also provided and supply relatedadvantages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure is herein described, by way of example only, withreference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that schematically illustrates a storagesystem comprising a storage controller having multiple modulesconfigured to deploy and monitor a software-defined computing system, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram that schematically illustrates a given moduleconfigured to provide virtual remote support connectivity client for thesoftware defined computing system, in accordance with a first embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that schematically illustrates a given moduleconfigured to provide virtual remote support connectivity client for thesoftware defined computing system, in accordance with a secondembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram that schematically illustrates a method ofproviding remote support for the software defined computing system, inaccordance with an embodiment of the preset invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods forproviding a virtual remote client for software defined computing systems(SDCs) to provide remote services for support and field-debugging. Asexplained hereinbelow, a hypervisor initializes first and second virtualmachines, and a first software application is executed on the firstvirtual machine, the first software application configured to provide aservice. Upon establishing a logical data connection between the firstand the second virtual machine, the second virtual machine can execute asecond software application that is configured to enable remotemonitoring of the first software application via the logical dataconnection.

Systems implementing embodiments of the present invention can deploy alight-weight virtual remote support connectivity client in the secondvirtual machine that executes on the same hypervisor as the secondvirtual machine that manages the software defined computing system inthe first virtual machine, thereby enabling the support client tocommunicate with the software defined computing system via channels(e.g., networking emulation within the hypervisor and serial portemulation) provided by the hypervisor. By using the first virtualmachine as a proxy, the support client can access the software definedcomputing system even if the software defined computing systemexperiences serious errors which hamper network communications.

In some embodiments, a “tunnel” can be created on a data networkcoupling the virtual remote support connectivity client with thesoftware defined computing system, in order to enable the remote supportclient to access the software defined computing system's virtual machineconsole output, physical and virtual serial channels (i.e.,connections), and physical and virtual data networking connections(e.g., an IP connection within the hypervisor). By implementing theremote support connectivity client in a virtual machine, debugging andmaintenance operations can be performed on the second virtual machineinstead of using a screen-sharing solution such as remote desktop, whichmay be complicated (and not always possible) in terms of securitypolicies and is typically extremely cumbersome to implement and use.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that schematically illustrates a dataprocessing storage subsystem 20, in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention. The particular subsystem (also referred to herein as astorage system) shown in FIG. 1 is presented to facilitate anexplanation of the invention. However, as the skilled artisan willappreciate, the invention can be practiced using other computingenvironments, such as other storage subsystems with diversearchitectures and capabilities.

Storage subsystem 20 receives, from one or more host computers 22,input/output (I/O) requests, which are commands to read or write data atlogical addresses on logical volumes. Any number of host computers 22are coupled to storage subsystem 20 by any means known in the art, forexample, using a network. Herein, by way of example, host computers 22and storage subsystem 20 are assumed to be coupled by a Storage AreaNetwork (SAN) 26 incorporating data connections 24 and Host Bus Adapters(HBAs) 28. The logical addresses specify a range of data blocks within alogical volume, each block herein being assumed by way of example tocontain 512 bytes. For example, a 10 KB data record used in a dataprocessing application on a given host computer 22 would require 20blocks, which the given host computer might specify as being stored at alogical address comprising blocks 1,000 through 1,019 of a logicalvolume. Storage subsystem 20 may operate in, or as, a SAN system.

Storage subsystem 20 comprises a clustered storage controller 34 coupledbetween SAN 26 and a private network 46 using data connections 30 and44, respectively, and incorporating adapters 32 and 42, againrespectively. In some configurations, adapters 32 and 42 may comprisehost bus adapters (HBAs). Clustered storage controller 34 implementsclusters of storage modules 36, each of which includes a processor 52,an interface 38 (in communication between adapters 32 and 42), and acache 40. Each storage module 36 is responsible for a number of storagedevices 50 by way of a data connection 48 as shown.

As described previously, each storage module 36 further comprises agiven cache 40. However, it will be appreciated that the number ofcaches 40 used in storage subsystem 20 and in conjunction with clusteredstorage controller 34 may be any convenient number. While all caches 40in storage subsystem 20 may operate in substantially the same manner andcomprise substantially similar elements, this is not a requirement. Eachof the caches 40 may be approximately equal in size and is assumed to becoupled, by way of example, in a one-to-one correspondence with a set ofphysical storage devices 50, which may comprise disks. In oneembodiment, physical storage devices may comprise such disks. Thoseskilled in the art will be able to adapt the description herein tocaches of different sizes.

Each set of storage devices 50 comprises multiple slow and/or fastaccess time mass storage devices, herein below assumed to be multiplehard disks. FIG. 1 shows caches 40 coupled to respective sets of storagedevices 50. In some configurations, the sets of storage devices 50comprise one or more hard disks, or solid state drives (SSDs) which canhave different performance characteristics. In response to an I/Ocommand, a given cache 40, by way of example, may read or write data ataddressable physical locations of a given storage device 50. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 1, caches 40 are able to exercise certaincontrol functions over storage devices 50. These control functions mayalternatively be realized by hardware devices such as disk controllers(not shown), which are linked to caches 40.

Each storage module 36 is operative to monitor its state, including thestates of associated caches 40, and to transmit configurationinformation to other components of storage subsystem 20 for example,configuration changes that result in blocking intervals, or limit therate at which I/O requests for the sets of physical storage areaccepted.

Routing of commands and data from HBAs 28 to clustered storagecontroller 34 and to each cache 40 may be performed over a networkand/or a switch. Herein, by way of example, HBAs 28 may be coupled tostorage modules 36 by at least one switch (not shown) of SAN 26, whichcan be of any known type having a digital cross-connect function.Additionally or alternatively, HBAs 28 may be coupled to storage modules36.

In some embodiments, data having contiguous logical addresses can bedistributed among modules 36, and within the storage devices in each ofthe modules. Alternatively, the data can be distributed using otheralgorithms, e.g., byte or block interleaving. In general, this increasesbandwidth, for instance, by allowing a volume in a SAN or a file innetwork attached storage to be read from or written to more than onegiven storage device 50 at a time. However, this technique requirescoordination among the various storage devices, and in practice mayrequire complex provisions for any failure of the storage devices, and astrategy for dealing with error checking information, e.g., a techniquefor storing parity information relating to distributed data. Indeed,when logical unit partitions are distributed in sufficiently smallgranularity, data associated with a single logical unit may span all ofthe storage devices 50.

While such hardware is not explicitly shown for purposes of illustrativesimplicity, clustered storage controller 34 may be adapted forimplementation in conjunction with certain hardware, such as a rackmount system, a midplane, and/or a backplane. Indeed, private network 46in one embodiment may be implemented using a backplane. Additionalhardware such as the aforementioned switches, processors, controllers,memory devices, and the like may also be incorporated into clusteredstorage controller 34 and elsewhere within storage subsystem 20, againas the skilled artisan will appreciate. Further, a variety of softwarecomponents, operating systems, firmware, and the like may be integratedinto one storage subsystem 20.

Storage devices 50 may comprise a combination of high capacity hard diskdrives and solid state disk drives. In some embodiments each of storagedevices 50 may comprise a logical storage device. In storage systemsimplementing the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) protocol, thelogical storage devices may be referred to as logical units, or LUNs.While each LUN can be addressed as a single logical unit, the LUN maycomprise a combination of high capacity hard disk drives and/or solidstate disk drives.

While the configuration in FIG. 1 shows storage controller 34 comprisingfour modules 36 and each of the modules coupled to four storage devices50, a given storage controller 34 comprising any multiple of modules 36coupled to any plurality of storage devices 50 is considered to be withthe spirit and scope of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram that schematically illustrates a given module36 configured to execute a remote monitoring virtual machine 60 thatenables a computer 62 to remotely monitor a storage service virtualmachine 64, in accordance with a first embodiment of the presentinvention. While the example in FIG. 2 (and the description referencingFIG. 3 hereinbelow) shows virtual machine 64 configured to providestorage services, configuring virtual machine to provide other types ofservices that remote monitoring virtual machine 60 can monitor isconsidered to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

In addition to processor 52, module 36 comprises a memory 66 that storesa hypervisor that the processor executes in order to create and managevirtual machines 60 and 64 that are also stored in memory 66. In theconfiguration shown in FIG. 2, storage service virtual machine 64comprises a service operating system 70, cache 40 and interface 38, andremote service virtual machine 60 comprises a support operating system72, a remote monitoring application 74 and a remote monitoring interface76.

Remote monitoring application 74 in virtual machine 60 communicates withvirtual machine 64 via a logical connection 78 (also referred to as abackchannel) that enables hypervisor 68 to tunnel communication from oneor more channels to virtual machine 60 that is running on the samehypervisor. Examples of the logical connection 78 include, but are notlimited to, a physical (i.e., an actual) serial connection, a virtualserial connection, a physical data networking connection and a virtualdata networking (e.g., Ethernet) connection. In some embodiments, theremay be multiple logical connections between virtual machines 60 and 64,and processor 52 (e.g., via hypervisor 68) can select one or more of themultiple logical connections. For example, there may be a first logicalconnection 78 comprising a logical data networking connection and asecond logical connection 78 comprising a physical serial connection,and if processor 52 detects a high utilization of the first logicalconnection, the processor can configure the second logical connection asa primary logical connection and configure the first logical connectionas a secondary logical connection (e.g., for redundancy).

Remote monitoring virtual machine 60 communicates with computer 62 vialogical data connection 78, and provides access (i.e., a link) to remotemonitoring application 74 via remote monitoring interface 76. Examplesof remote monitoring interface 76 include, but are not limited to, anapplication programming interface (API), a command line interface (CLI)and a graphical user interface (GUI).

In operation, virtual machine 64 can be configured as a “light weight”virtual machine that is either pre-deployed or deployed when needed byhypervisor 68, and remote monitoring application 74 running in virtualmachine 60 can be configured to store log messages or dumped debug datafrom the software (i.e., cache 40 and interface 38) or operating system70 running on virtual machine 64. In some embodiments, afterestablishing connection 80, virtual machine 60 can provide connectivityvia communication protocols such as Secure Shell (SSH). Using connection80, a support team accessing computer 60 can use a tunnel to virtualmachine 64 through one of the available links to the storage servicevirtual machine, retrieve logs from virtual machines 60 and/or 64, oraccess remote monitoring interface 76 to initiate a power cycle orsimilar operations on virtual machine 64.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that schematically illustrates a given module36 configured to execute a remote monitoring virtual machine 60 tomonitor virtual machines 64 on modules 36 that are configured as acluster 90, in accordance with a first embodiment of the presentinvention. In FIG. 3, modules 36 and their respective components aredifferentiated by appending a letter to the identifying numeral, so thatthe modules comprise modules 36A-36D. In the configuration shown in FIG.3, remote monitoring virtual machine 60 executes from module 36A andcommunicates with storage virtual machines 64A-64D via logicalconnections 78A-78D, respectively.

When remote monitoring application 74 monitors cluster 90, the remotemonitoring application allows connectivity (via connections 78) to allthe virtual machines in the cluster (i.e., both virtual machine 64A thatruns on the same hypervisor 64 as virtual machine 60 and virtualmachines 64B-64D that run on different hypervisors 68). Thisconnectivity is allowed since virtual machine 60 resides over the samehypervisor (i.e., hypervisors 68A) as one of the clustered nodes (i.e.,virtual machine 64A), and thus can have a “leg” in the physical networkused for internal communication between the nodes of the cluster. Insome embodiments, the remote monitoring virtual machine may also beincluded in key distribution mechanisms used for maintaining securedchannels between the cluster's nodes (i.e., virtual machines 64).

Additionally or alternatively, when remote monitoring application 74monitors cluster 90 remote monitoring application 74 can maintainmetadata that store information about the configuration and topology ofthe clustered system (e.g., IP addresses).

Processors 52 comprise general-purpose central processing units (CPU) orspecial-purpose embedded processors, which are programmed in software orfirmware to carry out the functions described herein. The software maybe downloaded to modules 36 in electronic form, over a network, forexample, or it may be provided on non-transitory tangible media, such asoptical, magnetic or electronic memory media. Alternatively, some or allof the functions of processor 52 may be carried out by dedicated orprogrammable digital hardware components, or using a combination ofhardware and software elements.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

These computer readable program instructions may also be stored in acomputer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, aprogrammable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to functionin a particular manner, such that the computer readable storage mediumhaving instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufactureincluding instructions which implement aspects of the function/actspecified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

Virtual Remote Support for SDC Systems

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram that schematically illustrates a method ofproviding remote support for one or more virtual machines 64, inaccordance with an embodiment of the preset invention. In embodimentswhere virtual machine 60 is providing remote support for multiplevirtual machines 64, the storage service virtual machines are typicallyconfigured as a clustered software defined computing system, such as thecluster SDS system described supra in the description referencing FIG.3.

In an initialization step 100, hypervisor 68 initializes virtualmachines 60 and 64 in memory 66, and in an execution step 102, virtualmachine 64 executes one or more software applications configured toprovide a service. In the example shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the softwareapplications comprise cache 40 and interface 38, and the servicecomprises storage services.

In a first connection step 104, hypervisor 68 establishes a logicalconnection between virtual machines 60 and 64, and in a first monitoringstep 106, virtual machine 60 executes remote monitoring application 74that is configured to enable computer 62, via remote monitoringinterface 76, to remotely monitor virtual machine 64. As describedsupra, the logical connection may comprise a virtual serial portconnection or a virtual data networking connection, and the remotemonitoring interface may comprise an application programming interface,a command line interface, or a graphical user interface.

In a comparison step 108, if remote monitoring application 74 ismonitoring cluster 90 (e.g., as shown in FIG. 3), then the remotemonitoring application identifies a topology of the cluster in anidentification step 110, and hypervisor 68A establishes, based on theidentified topology, additional logical connections 78B-78D in a secondconnection step 112. In some embodiments, remote monitoring application74 can identify the topology by receiving IP addresses and otherinformation about the nodes (i.e., virtual machines 64B-64D) in thecluster.

Finally, in a second monitoring step 114, remote monitoring application74 monitors each of the additional storage service virtual machines, andthe method ends. Returning to step 108, if remote monitoring application74 is only monitoring a single instance of virtual machine 64, then themethod ends. While the description for steps 108-114 describes remotemonitoring application 74 monitoring cluster 90, configuring the remotemonitoring application to monitor any other type clustered softwaredefined computing system comprising multiple virtual machines configuredas nodes in the cluster is considered to be within the spirit and scopeof the present invention.

The flowchart(s) and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

It will be appreciated that the embodiments described above are cited byway of example, and that the present invention is not limited to whathas been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather, the scopeof the present invention includes both combinations and subcombinationsof the various features described hereinabove, as well as variations andmodifications thereof which would occur to persons skilled in the artupon reading the foregoing description and which are not disclosed inthe prior art.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: initializing in asoftware-defined computing system, by a hypervisor executing on aprocessor, first and second virtual machines; executing, on the firstvirtual machine, a first software application configured to provide aservice; and executing, on the second virtual machine, a second softwareapplication configured to enable remote monitoring of the first softwareapplication via a data connection by deploying a virtual remote supportconnectivity client in the second virtual machine executing on thehypervisor using the first virtual machine as a proxy to enable theremote monitoring of the first software application.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the data connection is selected from agroup consisting of a physical serial connection, a virtual serialconnection, a physical data networking connection and a virtual datanetworking connection.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein thesecond software application remotely monitors the first softwareapplication via an interface selected from a group consisting of acommand line interface, a graphical user interface and an applicationprogramming interface.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein theservice comprises a storage service.
 5. The method according to claim 1,wherein the first software application comprises a first given node in acluster comprising one or more additional nodes, each of the additionalnodes executing a respective additional hypervisor, each of theadditional hypervisors managing a respective additional virtual machine,each of the additional virtual machines executing an additional instanceof the first software application.
 6. The method according to claim 5,further comprising identifying, by the second software application,topology information for the cluster, establishing, based on theidentified topology information, an additional data connection betweenthe second virtual machine and each of the additional virtual machines,and monitoring each of the additional virtual machines via itsrespective data connections.
 7. The method according to claim 6, whereinthe topology information for the cluster comprises a respective internetprotocol (IP) address for each of the nodes.
 8. An apparatus,comprising: a memory; and a processor configured: to initialize in asoftware-defined computing system, by a hypervisor stored in the memory,first and second virtual machines in the memory, to execute, on thefirst virtual machine, a first software application configured toprovide a service, to execute, on the second virtual machine, a secondsoftware application configured to enable remote monitoring of the firstsoftware application via a data connection by deploying a virtual remotesupport connectivity client in the second virtual machine executing onthe hypervisor using the first virtual machine as a proxy to enable theremote monitoring of the first software application.
 9. The apparatusaccording to claim 8, wherein the data connection is selected from agroup consisting of a physical serial connection, a virtual serialconnection, a physical data networking connection and a virtual datanetworking connection.
 10. The apparatus according to claim 8, whereinthe second software application is configured to remotely monitor thefirst software application via an interface selected from a groupconsisting of a command line interface, a graphical user interface andan application programming interface.
 11. The apparatus according toclaim 8, wherein the service comprises a storage service.
 12. Theapparatus according to claim 8, wherein the first software applicationcomprises a first given node in a cluster comprising one or moreadditional nodes, each of the additional nodes executing a respectiveadditional hypervisor, each of the additional hypervisors managing arespective additional virtual machine, each of the additional virtualmachines executing an additional instance of the first softwareapplication.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the secondsoftware application is configured to identify topology information forthe cluster, to establish, based on the identified topology information,an additional data connection between the second virtual machine andeach of the additional virtual machines, and to monitor each of theadditional virtual machines via its respective data connections.
 14. Theapparatus according to claim 13, wherein the topology information forthe cluster comprises a respective internet protocol (IP) address foreach of the nodes.
 15. A computer program product, the computer programproduct comprising: a non-transitory computer readable storage mediumhaving computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computerreadable program code comprising: computer readable program codeconfigured to initialize in a software-defined computing system, by ahypervisor, first and second virtual machines; computer readable programcode configured to execute, on the first virtual machine, a firstsoftware application configured to provide a service; computer readableprogram code configured to execute, on the second virtual machine, asecond software application configured to enable remote monitoring ofthe first software application via a data connection by deploying avirtual remote support connectivity client in the second virtual machineexecuting on the hypervisor using the first virtual machine as a proxyto enable the remote monitoring of the first software application. 16.The computer program product according to claim 15, wherein the dataconnection is selected from a group consisting of a physical serialconnection, a virtual serial connection, a physical data networkingconnection and a virtual data networking connection.
 17. The computerprogram product according to claim 15, wherein the second softwareapplication is configured to provide the remote monitoring via aninterface selected from a group consisting of a command line interface,a graphical user interface and an application programming interface. 18.The computer program product according to claim 15, wherein the servicecomprises a storage service.
 19. The computer program product accordingto claim 15, wherein the first software application comprises a firstgiven node in a cluster comprising one or more additional nodes, each ofthe additional nodes executing a respective additional hypervisor, eachof the additional hypervisors managing a respective additional virtualmachine, each of the additional virtual machines executing an additionalinstance of the first software application.
 20. The computer programproduct according to claim 19, further comprising computer readableprogram code configured to by the second software application, topologyinformation for the cluster, to establish, based on the identifiedtopology information, an additional data connection between the secondvirtual machine and each of the additional virtual machines, and tomonitor each of the additional virtual machines via its respective dataconnections.